Category Archives: Creature Comforts

This has been a great year for the Harry Potter Universe. While J.K Rowling has said she is “done” with the actual stories about Potter, she has delved in to the world of playwright and screenwriter to experiment in her wonderful world of witches and wizards. The hype surrounding Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has been building for almost two years now. This story features Eddie Redmayne playing Newt Scamander, the famous author of the textbook by the same name as the title. Those of us true Harry Potter fans already read Rowling’s version of the text book when it came out in paperback way back when, but now there’s a whole story to surround the making of aid textbook. This week I dove back in to the Potterverse head first, and here’s my spoiler filled review of them movie.

Since I am on a Doctor Who kick this week why not bring you one of the coolest, and creepiest, alien species from the series to you this weekend. The Vashta Nerada, instilling fear of the dark in to all cultures for good reason. These monsters have made me buy a nightlight.

There is quite a plethora of alien races and species out there. From the worlds of Wookiepedia to the wonders of the Whoniverse, we’ve all met and loved many aliens from different imaginations. Sometimes I really wish there was a way to have more overlap. A way for species stuck in one world could become more believable by making appearances in others. I know that there are probably copyright laws and other barriers that prevent this from happening, but one of those species that I wish could break out of its current storyline in to others are The Vogons. That’s right, those poetry loving, slobbering monsters from Vogsphere in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy would fit in perfectly with a Star Trek episode, or better yet an encounter with the Tardis.

Vogons are just so hilarious how could you not want them showing their faces in more adventures? Unless of course you ended up face to face with one. I guess it’s better to just hear about them, or imagine them, and not their poetry. I particularly love their origin story. I am a believer in evolution after all, none of that creationist crap for me. But it has been said that the forces of evolution have feelings too, and they were so disgusted by their creation of the Vogons they refused to work on the species any further. So how did they not die off do you ask? Well they are just so goddamned stubborn they decided to keep on living on their own.

Sorry I missed last weekend folks. It’s been a crazy, haunted month but I am super glad to be bringing you another terrific weekend post on a creature with just as much symbolism as the dragon. Today we are going to talk about the infamous ravens and crows of fantasy, and how it has integrated itself in to so many cultures and stories as birds that means something.

The Princess Bride is just one of those movies that everyone loves. Seriously, I can’t think of one person that has told me they hated that movie. Of course, I do know a lot of people who have not watched it for one reason or another, and let me tell you, you are really freaking missing out. This movie has everything you could want in a fantasy: sword fights, torture, mysterious heroes, romance, great side kicks, adorable wizards, loathsome villains, memorable one-liners, and even some creepy creatures. There is so much I could rant and rave about how fun this movie is, and timeless, but this weekend I am going to spotlight the two creatures we encounter in this fantasy world: the shrieking eels and R.O.U.S.es.